February 19th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Should That Be a Question on the Job in the Richest Country in the World?
Back in the 17th century, Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play mused about life and death, heaven, purgatory and hell, religion, and whether suicide might be an answer to all of life’s problems in the greatest soliloquy ever written. Here are a few lines:
To be, or not to be, that is the question; whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,…
January 29th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
The Roman Empire Lasted About 600 Years
How long will the American Empire last? The English historian Edward Gibbons covered the rise and fall of the Roman Empire in six volumes published in 1788 and 1789. He covers 98 AD to 1590 AD in his epic work. Among his six volumes he has an excellent summary of why Rome failed in just one sentence: “The Roman Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions in large part due to the gradual loss of civic virtue among…
January 23rd, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Insanity, Racism, Bigotry, and Narcissism Have Created a New Religion
Up until the presidential election of 2016 there were an estimated 2,600 religious denominations in the world. On November 3, 2016, enough White Power Christians morphed into Trumpians to make 2,601. As a person who has been involved with both Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations for 82 years after going through First Communion at seven, I was not surprised that a recent Gallup…
January 20th, 2022
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Photo by Sabrina Hornung
When Will The Do-Nothing Congress Fund Parks for The Ninety-Nine Percent?
The Raymonds are state and national park people. Our farm was four miles from Lindbergh State Park along the Mississippi River at Little Falls. We spent many a wonderful weekend and holiday under the huge pines and fishing for northern pike and walleye in the river above and below the dam.
The park, formerly a farm of 110 acres, was given to the state in…
December 20th, 2021
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Is It the Common Good for Billionaires to Sail $500 Million Superyachts?
The new Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln set out 161 years ago to save the United States from break up. James Russell Lowell, The Atlantic magazine’s first editor, wrote: “The Republicans know that true policy is gradual in its advances, that it is conditional and not absolute, that it must deal with facts and not with sentiments.”
I have been a reader and subscriber to…
December 4th, 2021
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
When Will It End? Gun Culture Has Killed 1,500,000 Americans in 50 Years
On Thanksgiving Day, 25-year-old Philadelphian Edilberto Miguel Palaez Moctezuma was eating his turkey dinner with his family at their dining room table when a stray bullet hit him. He was quickly flown to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. There was an argument among some neighbors about missing liquor which resulted in an exchange of gunfire.
On November 29, a Fargo…
November 28th, 2021
By Ed Raymond
The Spread of Luxury and Poverty in the Middle of a Pandemic
The wealth gap between the top ten percent and bottom ninety percent has reached staggering proportions. In 1970 the wealthiest families owned about 20% of the nation’s household wealth. Today they own more than 35%. Elon Musk, who often pays no federal income taxes, made $38 billion in one remarkable day on the New York Stock Exchange. In the first 19 months of the COVID-19 pandemic U.S.…
November 21st, 2021
By Ed Raymond
fargogadly@gmail.com
Onward, Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War, With the Flags of Trump…
The North Dakota Legislature enshrined itself in theological Trumpocracy by passing a bill to prevent the teaching of Critical Race Theory, attempting to protect innocent White kids from the embarrassment of learning the actual history of the Divided States of America.
Trumplican lawmakers said it would not prevent teachers from teaching historical factual “events.” Let’s…
November 20th, 2021
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
How Did Germany Recover From Committing the Holocaust?
I have been asking this question for decades after reading such books as “The Rise And Fall of the Third Reich” by William L. Shirer, still the definitive history of Hitler days, particularly 1932 to 1945. I was in eighth grade when Adolf and Eva committed suicide after murdering more than six million Jews,…
November 7th, 2021
By Ed Raymond
fargogadfly@gmail.com
Walkabouts and Turnagains
This is a Critical Race Fact. When Ronald Reagan started his campaign for the presidency at Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1979, he used the phrase “Let’s make America great again.” He didn’t add the words “by making it White again,” but he made it clear to Southern White Democrats that the Republican Party wanted them to make a “turnagain.”
While driving in Alaska, we were surprised by a road called the…
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By Winona LaDukewinona@winonaladuke.comIt’s been eight years since the Water Protectors were cleared off the banks of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers. It was a bitter ending to a battle to protect the water; and for most of us…
By HPR Staff We’re all a part of building strong, healthy and inclusive communities. But the region’s non-profit organizations do a lot of the heavy lifting. Now it’s time for these organizations to step into the spotlight.…
February 15, 6-9 p.m.Miss Kitty’s, 5855 16th Ave SE, Braddock, North DakotaWhat better way to celebrate the day after Valentine’s Day than with a nut fry? Mind you, we’re not talking about chestnuts roasting on an open…
By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com As I write this article, it’s January, and the temperatures in North Dakota are negative. I’m living in a house and our furnace just died a forever death after years of quick fixes. Yet,…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comHow billionaires with brain rot are creating bedlam in the USAOn January 21, 2010, the Republican-dominated United States Supreme Court approved a death sentence for American democracy of 250 to…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com So far in 2025, announcements for new restaurant openings in the metro far outnumber closings. This is good news going into the new year for us hungry folk. In my opinion, the positive trend will…
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By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com Local band Zero Place has been making quite a name for itself locally and regionally in the last few years. Despite getting its start during a time it seemed the whole world was coming to…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Now streaming on MUBI, Elizabeth Sankey’s essay film “Witches” morphs from what at first appears to be a feminist deconstruction of movie and television representations of the title…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comIn 1974, the Jamestown Arts Center started as a small space above a downtown drugstore. It has grown to host multiple classrooms, a gallery, performance studio, ceramic studio and outdoor art park.…
By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…
By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…
By Josette Ciceronunapologeticallyanxiousme@gmail.com What does it mean to truly live in a community —or should I say, among community? It’s a question I have been wrestling with since I moved to Fargo-Moorhead in February 2022.…
By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com On Dec 5, the Turning Point USA chapter at North Dakota State University hosted an event called BisonFest. This event featured Chloe Cole, a former trans kid, known for detransitioning and…
By Jim Fugliejimfuglie920@gmail.com A friend of mine, a well-known Bismarck liberal (I have a few of those), came up to me after church the other day and asked, “So, are you moving out of the country?” I knew he was referring…
